Memories of the Dawn
by shadowxs160
Summary: After landing on a strange island, Naruto finds himself in a twisted tale that will redefine both good and evil. Have his friends become enemies, have his enemies become the last people he can rely on? Why can't he remember all of this?
1. 1: God's Island

**Memories of the Dawn**

Chapter 1: God's Island

"Ugh" Naruto groaned as he weakly opened his eyes. "Where am I?" Naruto sat up and looked around. He seemed to be on an island in the middle of nowhere. The deep ocean water completely surrounded the island. Naruto tried standing up, but he felt a sharp pain in his left leg which caused him to stay seated. The course sand felt rough under Naruto's pants. There was no other land for miles and in the middle of the island, was a dense emerald jungle. He inspected himself for any damage. Naruto lifted up his pants leg and found a rather large gouge in his knee. He sighed, "Where's Sakura when you need her." Whoosh! Naruto looked towards the jungle and saw a fireball shoot right at him. He was immobile, so he quickly lied back and went right under the whirling mass of fire. This left his jacket somewhat scorched, but he remained unharmed. When he looked back over he saw someone ran towards him with his sword.

"Naruto!" Sasuke screamed.

"Sasuke? What are you doing?" Naruto tried moving but was unable to without bleeding. Sasuke was charging, suddenly A large figure dressed in black pushed Sasuke to the side. He glared back at Naruto with his piercing red eyes and long black hair. The man grabbed Naruto and slung him over his shoulder. "Come, we must move quickly." The man carried the young shinobi into the dark forest, Sasuke followed in pursuit. In mid run Itachi spun 180 degrees, while carrying Naruto on his back. He put his hand to his mouth as a hand-sign. "Fire-style, Fireball Jutsu!" He released a gigantic fireball and Sasuke. Sasuke was too late to dodge and impacted with the large ball. "Aghh!" He screamed in anguish. He turned around and picked up the pace. Naruto could've sworn he saw someone come to Sasuke's aid.

"What's going on?"

"Silence, Jinchuuriki! We don't have much time"

"Jinchuuriki... Akatsuki? Let go of me!" Naruto pulled out a kunai and stabbed it into his captors back. He grunted then disappeared in smoke. Just as Naruto was about to hit the ground, he reappeared and caught him in mid-air. "Don't test me, Nine-Tails. I'm only following orders. I'd have you put to death if I wasn't on a mission right now."

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Another voice behind them said. Naruto looked up and stared in disbelief. "You're the shark guy, Kisame. Then that must mean..."

"Bingo, kid." Kisame said with a smirk, showing off his sharp teeth.

"I-Itachi?"

"Humph."

"Put me down!" Naruto began banging against his back. Kisame was about to pull out his sword when Itachi stopped. "Gladly!" Itachi grabbed Naruto by the arm and flung him onto the ground. Naruto hit his head against the ground and fell unconscious. Itachi hovered above him and surveyed the camp. "Inform leader that we've established a base." Kisame pulled out his radio. "With the Jinchuuriki."

**_M_**

_"C'mon Naruto, hurry!" Sakura was running in front of me. We were in a tunnel; it was dark, and cold. The walls were lined with slime and it smelled of mold and mildew. "Yeah, move it loser." Sasuke taunted, using his sword to cut through the various vines in our way. It was just like old time, Sakura, Sasuke, and me on a mission together. Only this time, it was life or death and we were running out of time. Once Sasuke heard we were all going after Itachi and he had defeated Orochimaru, he decided to return to the village. Sasuke said he would accept any punishment as long as he was able to go on this mission. There was a blinding light at the end of the tunnel. I had kunai in both hands. We were ready._

**_M_**

"You threw him?" The leader asked angrily. Konan had her back against a tree. "Leader told you to bring the Nine-Tails unharmed." She sighed

"He already has a huge gash in his leg, I thought it wouldn't matter." Itachi confessed. He held his head down. Leader smacked Kisame instead.

Naruto was awoken to this angry conversation. His forehead was bandaged to stop the bleeding and he had more bandages on his wounded leg. His jacket lied across the tent, so too much movement would give him away.

"You shouldn't have let Itachi carry him." Leader shouted.

"I was fighting of Itachi's 'foolish little brother'." Kakashi shouted. Itachi sneered. "You said no one else was there, Leader."

He was taken back by this remark, "Sasuke was there? This was not what we planned. Zetsu, I know you're listening. Go perfect the defenses. Hidan, Kakuzu, you're on guard. Itachi, go check on the boy. Naruto flinched; he had to get out of there! Naruto winced at the pain which left him immobile. Why wasn't the Kyuubi healing him? He hastily surveyed the inside of the tent. Any kunai or ninja tools he had were taken away. Itachi approached the tent. His shadow could be seen towering over Naruto. Itachi pulled down the zipper and stared at their catch. He closed it back up and returned to the campfire. "Still sleeping."

"Very well, we shall continue in the morning. It's about eleven o'clock and we should all get some sleep." The Akatsuki members retreated to each of their tents. Leader and Konan shared a large black tent with the signature Akatsuki clouds on them. Itachi had a mall black tent, Kisame had a blue one. Left were a yellow tent, a white tent, a grey tent, a black and white tent, and a small orange tent. Naruto was able to see out a small peep hole in the side. Once all of the others had fallen asleep, Naruto slowly crawled over to his jacket. He reached into a pocket and surprisingly found a small orange scroll. He opened it up and read the text.

_Naruto, here is a gift for helping me earlier. Use your chakra to release the seal. Love, Sakura._

He must've stuck it in his pocket weeks ago and forgot about it. Naruto released the seal and from the smoke appeared a small round metal disk with a thin hook on it. Naruto grabbed it and stuck it in his left ear. He pressed the little button in the middle. A low metallic voice said, "You have one message." Beep! Suddenly a raspy breathing was heard. "Naruto... why? Why did you do this to me?" She shouted. Then there was a large crash and a scream. "S-Sakura?" Despite Naruto's pain, he grabbed his jacket and limped out of the tent. Naruto used his chakra to numb his leg. The camp was in a trimmed part of the forest. The jungle surrounded them in a complete circle. Naruto slipped behind his tent and into the forest. Naruto had to find Sakura. After running for a while Naruto rested against a tree. He had to catch his breath. He released his chakra and almost screamed, luckily someone muffled his mouth. Or perhaps it was unlucky? "Quite boy, you can't let anyone now you're here." Zetsu was hanging out of a tree. Naruto slapped his hand off. "What do you bastards want from me?" Zetsu pulled himself out of the tree. "We're just trying to get you out of here alive. This is far worse than it appears."

"Worse than being captured by the people who want me dead?" Naruto retorted. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A dozen Naruto's appeared and they all fell down in pain.

Zetsu sighed, "I could've told you that would happen!" He bent down and grabbed Naruto by the good leg and dragged him back to camp. "You're Zetsu right?" He nodded. "Just tell me, what's going on. Why aren't I dead?"

"Normally, you'd have been extracted and left for dead. But our current situation doesn't allow us. Our priority now is to keep you alive because if you die, the Kyuubi dies with you." Zetsu's white half said. By the time they got back it was daybreak. Most members have come out of their tents. Apparently they don't were the cloaks when they sleep. Only leader had the signature coat on. Itachi had a mesh shirt on, and Kisame was only wearing pants. Everyone one looked over at the plant man and his prize. Zetsu let go of Naruto's leg and went to sit with the team. Naruto sat up and stared at them all. On the left were Zetsu and a blue haired girl. On the right were Itachi and his partner Kisame. There in the middle was a man with fiery orange hair that looked strangely like Naruto's own. He had many piercing all over his face and was wearing the cloak. Naruto could only assume he was the leader. Everyone was silent, no one would dare move. Then the blue hair girl stood up and walked over to Naruto. She kneeled down and offered her hand. "Well?" She said smiling. Her hair was a luscious blue that swayed in the wind. She walked in heels and a fishnet shirt. She had blue eye shadow and bright blue lipstick. Naruto took her hand and she lifted him up. He leaned on her and she helped him over to the sitting logs. Kisame stared at the boy, and then whispered to Itachi. Itachi smirked, "Yeah, like she'd do it for five bucks." Konan threw a kunai at him. Itachi reflected back at her. Right before it hit her it exploded into paper shreds. Naruto was amazed by this, how did she do that?

"Um... am I going to die now?" Naruto asked in a lowered tone.

Once again the blue girl was the only one to speak, "When Kakuzu gets back he'll fix up that leg."

"That's not what I asked." Naruto replied. There was a silence once more. The leader stood up and looked over at Naruto.

"You have absolutely no idea what's happened do you. We saved you from all you little friends so dear. They want you dead." Leader said.

"...That's insane. All you people want are to kill me for the Nine-Tails. That's it; you have no reason to save me! Besides, my friends would never hurt me."

"Where do you think you got that wound from, and why do you think the Kyuubi won't heal it?" The blue girl said.

"..."

"You're friends attacked you and you turned on them. You were just defending yourself, regardless of the casualties." The girl walked over to her tent.

"Casualties?"

Konan brought back a scroll and opened it. "Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame, Tenten, Sai, and Naruto Uzumaki. Or so they think." She smirked. "There's a few more, but I won't go into that right now."

"We need to get to the base," Leader announced. "Let's get moving."

"Sorry, but this is for your own good." Konan said. "What?" Naruto asked as Konan hit him in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. "Kisame, carry him."

**_M_**

_We were ready, just not ready for everything. When we reached the end of the tunnel there, hanging from a jungle vine by the neck..._

**_M_**


	2. 2: Enemies Nowhere, Enemies Everwhere

**Memories of the Dawn**

Chapter 2: Enemies Nowhere, Enemies Everywhere

**_M_**

_We were ready, just not ready for everything. When we reached the end of the tunnel there, hanging from a jungle vine by the neck..._

**_M_**

"Ahh!" Naruto awoke with a scream in a hot sweat. He looked around the room. "Damn it, what's with these people and being unconscious?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. He was lying in a bed in a small room with black wallpaper. The walls were dirty with dust in the corners. Naruto put on his black shirt, jacket, and slipped into his sandals. He ignored the cloak on the bureau. Naruto pulled his headband out of his pocket and tied it around his head. He opened the door and looked around the building. He walked around to get a view for the area. It was a large white mansion with a big glass dome in the middle of the roof that shone light in. Vines were growing along the walls and cracked pedestals were needed just to keep the roof from falling on them all. "Look's ancient doesn't it?" Naruto twirled around to see a skinny man with a long blonde ponytail and hair hanging over his left eye. With emerald green eyes and a black fishnet shirt, some girls would consider him totally sexy. Naruto thought otherwise, "Y-Yeah I guess."

He smirked, "Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you. If I did, well, Leader would have my head. I'm Deidara."

"Yeah, I know. You tried killing the Kazekage; my sensei blew your arm off." Naruto retorted.

"Well, Kakuzu's a pretty good medic. I see he fixed you up." Deidara said pointing down at Naruto's leg. He hadn't even noticed the pain was gone. He rolled up his pants leg and found that he was all stitched up. "What are you guys being nice to me? First the blue girl, now you?" Deidara was silent.

"Listen I, personally have nothing against you. Leader's orders are as they stand. I follow my orders or else, I'm going to get killed."

Naruto was hesitant, a few wrong words and he'd be blown up in a flash. "Hey, um, who's that girl?" Deidara had a confused look on his face. "Oh, you mean Konan? She's Leader's girl, I'm not sure why she's being so nice to you. Later." Deidara walked out to the kitchen. Naruto decided to look around. He walked up the steps and around the circle. The first door he came upon was jet black. He jiggled the handle but it was locked tight. Naruto moved on to the next door, this one was open. He opened the blue door and inside was a sleeping Kisame, hugging an Itachi plush. "..." He slowly closed the door and moved on. Next was a green door, which he assumed was Zetsu. Leader and Konan shared a room next to them. The last room he stumbled upon was bright orange with black swirl lines centering towards the door knob. He opened it and found a young man sitting on the edge of his bead. He wore the cloak but had an orange swirl mask like on the door. The man looked up, even though he didn't look any older than Naruto himself.

"Hello." The mysterious man said. "You're the Jinchuuriki?"

"Naruto, my name's Naruto."

"Hi, I'm Tobi. Is Deidara-senpei awake yet?" Naruto nodded. "I'd better go meet up with him." Tobi waved and left the room. Tobi's room was the strangest he saw. It had bright white walls and a black bookshelf filled with dozens of books on dozens of subjects. One stuck out the most and that was a small thick book with a soft cover with a drawing of the Nine-Tailed Fox. It said How to Kill a Jinchuuriki in 12 Days By The Good Boy. Naruto cringed at the thought. He opened to the first page and read the first few parts.

_If you're having trouble getting that Bijuu even after following my first book Killing a Jinchuuriki by Beating Him Mercilessly then you may have to try some alternative methods. If you can't kill him with kunai or jutsu, then kill him with kindness. You must turn them against their allies and get them to trust you. Next you must-_

"What are you doing in Tobi's room, Naruto?" Naruto quickly stuffed the book in his jacket and turned around to see Itachi starring at the blonde. Itachi crossed his arms. "Out, now." He pointed out the door. Naruto walked past him and down the stairs. "Sorry." Itachi scanned the room for anything out of place. '98 books, where's 99?'

Naruto went downstairs and found everyone at the dining table. Konan passed out the eggs and bacon and the orange juice around the table to all the members. Naruto looked around; it seemed to calm to be a diabolical organization bent of total world conquest. He took a seat. Naruto was engulfed by the illustrious scent of greasy bacon for he hasn't eaten in days. He sighed, "Where are we?"

"Uh, breakfast." Deidara said.

"No, I mean what is this place?"

"This," Leader began. "Is our sanctuary for now, we're in the same boat as you are. We're stuck on this island surrounded by shinobi who want all of us dead."

Naruto crossed his arms, "Since when is there an island in the middle of nowhere?"

Konan shrugged. "Well, technically, we don't know what country we're in. We might not even be in the same world anymore. All we know is that this is God's Island."

"Why is it called that?" Naruto asked.

"This is my island," The Leader said casually. "And I... am God."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Pain." Hidan remarked. Pain scowled.

"Anyway, what happened do my friends?" Naruto asked seriously.

Itachi just joined the table and sat down. "You're old friends, and my brother, have turned on you. They want the Kyuubi for themselves." Naruto pounded his fist against the table and caused the plates to shake. "Bullshit! My friends would never do that!" He shouted.

"You friends are for the village, the village wants the Fox."

"So do you people." He sneered. "Why don't you just summon your weird statue thing and rip the demon out of me, I'd be glad to get rid of him!"

Pain sighed, "You don't get it, summoning that statue would alert everyone about where we are and they'd kill everyone of us, including you. We're trying to save you, for now."

"Well, why can't I remember any of this?"

Pain shrugged, "Well, that's your problem."

"Fine, but I don't believe one word your saying."

"Believe what you want, but you're staying here until we move out. Hidan, Kakuzu, go see what that area you found is."

"What area?" Naruto asked, intrigued.

Hidan smirked, "We found a storage bin and Leader things the enemy might be around there."

"Right, Itachi and Kisame will put up the defenses for around here. Deidara will resume yesterday's duties. Zetsu, go scout the area. Dismissed!" Everyone got up and put on their cloaks. Konan went out to the kitchen to clean dishes, Naruto followed. "Hey, Konan was it?" She smiled and nodded. "Yeah?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "How can you do dishes?"

"Kisame made a purification machine and we get all of our water from the sea."

"Um, why are you being nice to me?" He asked.

"...I'm to follow Leader's orders." She said monotone.

"Oh, so you're just following orders?" Naruto asked disappointed.

"I'm to follow orders, but this one was my idea." She smiled. "I told Pain it would be better for everyone if we held you captive for a while until we find a way off the island. Pain doesn't want you leaving here."

"So I'm stuck here?" Naruto whined.

"Well," Konan smiled. "I won't stop you."

Naruto ran out the door and began following two of the more notorious members, The Immortal Duo. Naruto wondered what was really going on. Was Konan being nice, or just following orders. How long will they keep him alive. What if they're right? If he tried to escape, would his friends be waiting with feelings of happiness, or of anger? What happened to Sakura on the communicator. Suddenly there was a loud beep from the device in his ear. He pressed the center button and a familiar voice came on. "Naruto?"

"Shikimaru, what's going on?" Naruto asked frantically.

"You tell me you traitor. Why did you kill her, why? She was only trying to help! Meet me at this location, we need to talk." Shikimaru said coldly. 'K-Kill? I killed someone?' His thoughts were racing. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks and stood there.

_**M**_

_We were ready, just not ready for everything. When we reached the end of the tunnel there, hanging from a tree vine by the neck was Tenten. We all gasped. "What happened?" I asked._

_"You know very well, Naruto." A voice said stepping out from the shadow. His grey hair blew in the wind and his Sharingan glowing like fire. "You killed her, and the others." Sasuke and Sakura stepped back._

_"I could never kill them!" I shouted. I turned around and stared at my friends. "You set me up didn't you?"_

_"It's not what you think Naruto." Sasuke said readying his sword. "We had to!" Sakura pleaded._

_"Didn't you?" I shouted, my eye were glowing blood red, my nails sharpening. I was on all fours glaring back at them. I tackled one of them and started slashing away at them with my claws. They were screaming for me to get off, stabbing me continuously, but I just kept clawing at them. I made one final slash, one slash at their throat. I stood up breathing so heavily. I stared down at my hands, covered in flesh and blood. I must have been blinded by rage. I put one finger in my mouth, licking off the blood and feeling my razor sharp teeth. It had a very sweet taste. I had a sudden realization of my actions. My eyes were wide and I was shivering, the blood dripping from my fingertips. I screamed a blood curdling scream. How could I have lost control like that, what kind of monster am I?_

**_M_**


	3. 3: Even Death Forgets Sometimes

**Memories of the Dawn**

Chapter 3: Even Death Forgets Sometimes

Naruto decided to follow Hidan and Kakuzu, in hopes of finding his friends. He had to keep a distance or risk being caught and sent back to the base. He jumped from tree to tree, but the two of them were walking so slow. They chatted back and forth about various topics and then they stayed silent for a while. It seemed like they were in no hurry to finish their mission. Suddenly the two halted, Kakuzu motioned his head and Hidan grabbed his scythe. Hidan turned around and launched his scythe into the air. It flew at such a high speed, that Naruto wouldn't be able to dodge it. It was fly right towards the branch he was standing on. The scythe went right under his feet and broke the branch off. Naruto fell out of the tree and crash-landed into the ground. The two walked over to him. "What are you doing here?"

"...Following you?" Naruto chuckled.

"Leader told you to stay at the base. You can get seriously injured out here." Hidan said.

"You're the big prize here, whoever has you, will kill the other side."

"You're not going to kill my friends are you?" Naruto questioned.

Hidan laughed, "If we must."

"I won't let you leave a finger on them!" Naruto shouted.

Kakuzu stared at him, "From what I recall, you already laid a tail on them; four actually."

Naruto growled, "Why can't I remember that?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it's this island. It does things to you; it can make you forget who you are."

"God, Hidan, is this more of your religious crap?" Kakuzu scoffed.

Hidan pulled scythe back, "Shut up! I'm serous, that's what Leader told me."

Kakuzu completely ignored his partner, "Jinchuuriki, I don't care if you wish to join us. Just realize I won't be responsible for you. If you die, that's not my problem. Also, I hope that fall didn't ruin my work with your leg; I spent hours on it." Naruto continued with Hidan and Kakuzu. They would occasionally chat, but would usually remain silent. After a long grueling walk, the trio arrived at a large hillside. There was a large river that separated the path from the hill. This was probably to make sure that only real shinobi would get through. "They would either have to use chakra to walk over the water, or use their skills to jump over it." Kakuzu said observing the obstacle. "Otherwise you'd get caught in the current and fling you far away. You'd probably end up in the ocean." They simply walked over the water to get to the other side.

"How do we get through here?" Naruto asked. Hidan smirked, "Just watch kid." His partner began making hand-signs. The wall of the mountain fizzled out and left a large steel door. "Oh, a jutsu, hey if this is an island why is there a steel door?"

"That's why leader suspects your friends may be here." Kakuzu said walking towards the large door.

"And our enemies." Hidan sneered. He redid his scythe.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I told you to let me talk to them first." Naruto argued.

"And that fails we kill them. I'm actually looking out for you; my douche bag of a partner doesn't care about you at all." Hidan smirked. The trio proceeded past the door it looked like a dark cave. Kakuzu flipped the light switch and everything poured into view. The lights came on one at a time, each revealing a stack of cases. They weren't kidding when they said huge stockpile. The walls were pure steel and led on for almost a mile Naruto walked over a case and opened it. In it was various swords and kunai. "Wow." He opened another and it was full of scrolls. He opened one and found that it was a secret jutsu that very little even new existed. "What is this place?"

Kakuzu opened a scroll from his pocket and made hand-sings. "Leader said it have to do with the island's original owners, whoever that may be." He used the scroll to capture a whole stack of crates. He threw more scrolls to his partner and their current ally. "Use these to capture the best cargo you can find. Leader wants the best tools and hidden techniques." The duo prepared the sealings while Naruto looked around. He walked down the isles looking around at the different cases. Hundreds of stacks filled with some of the most advanced jutsu in the world. Soon Naruto stumbled upon an opening behind a stack. Hidan and Kakuzu quickly noticed Naruto was gone. They finished they're scrolls and caught up to him. Naruto pushed the stack away and gazed at the large opening.

"This must lead farther into the volcano." Hidan stated peering down the tunnel.

"Volcano?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"You didn't know? We're in the bottom of a volcano in the center of the island." Kakuzu started down the tunnel and Hidan was right next to him; Naruto followed suit. They quickened their pace; this looked so familiar. "C'mon Jinchuuriki, hurry!" Kakuzu was running at top speed. The tunnel was dark and cold, walls lined with slime and mold. "Yeah, move it dude." Hidan shouted using his scythe to cut through the various vines. Both Hidan and Kakuzu were ahead of Naruto. There was a blinding light at the end of the tunnel. Naruto stopped in his tracks, not willing to go forward. This was just like in his vision, his dream. He remembered, w_hen we reached the end of the tunnel there, hanging from a jungle vine by the neck... _Naruto ran as fast as he could, getting considerably ahead of the two Akatsuki members. He reached the end first, and looked around quickly, just like in his dream; there were trees all over. It completely unrealistic for a volcano. He looked at the tallest tree; there was the vine, but not Tenten. Naruto let out a long sigh; suddenly he was stabbed by a kunai. He cringed. He looked around and saw someone, his old friend. "Neji?" He asked cautiously.

"Naruto, how did you find this place?" He asked still in his battle position. "You were warned about returning!"

"When?"

"When you killed them!" Neji charged. He swiped at Naruto, Naruto carefully dodged to avoid him hitting his chakra points. Neji almost hit him when Kakuzu used his tentacle to hold back his arm. "Calm down, boy." Neji pulled his arm away and jumped back to a stable position. Kakuzu made a hand-sign, "Tentacle Snare." Hidden tentacles shot forwards and wrapped around Neji. He motioned with his hand and the tentacles drew him closer. "You're going to pay, Naruto!" Immediately another voice was heard, "Calm down Neji." Another person stepped out of the opposite tunnel and into the light. "Shikimaru." Naruto said almost in glee.

"I told you this location didn't I?" Naruto pressed the button and it spoke 'Through the fire's path, and into the light."

Kakuzu put Naruto's friend down and retracted his tentacles. Shikimaru retreated back into the opposing tunnel and made a motion for them to follow. They did and Shikimaru led them to a campground. Tents surround a fire. Naruto didn't realize it since they were in the volcano for so long, but it was already dark outside. They all sat down on a long, Shikimaru and Neji sat opposite of them. Quickly, Shikimaru trapped all three of them in a shadow possession jutsu. "Shikimaru? What are you doing?"

"Shut it, I knew you were working with Akatsuki!" He shouted.

"They saved me after Sasuke attacked. They fixed me up and fed me, what was I supposed to do?"

Neji crossed his arms, "You should've killed them all when you had a chance! Instead you killed your friends."

Naruto was getting angry, "What did I do?" He shouted in rage.

"I told you he wouldn't remember." Another voice said this one a girl. She walked out from behind a tree and sat on a log. She had blonde hair kept up in four points and a large fan on her back. "Temari? Will you tell me what's going on?"

"You shouldn't be so rough on him, he can't remember anything."

"Exactly, but how do you know?" Naruto questioned.

"Gaara's the same way. This island, it does weird things to people. Apparently Jinchuuriki lose some of their memory." She said rubbing her chin.

"But Gaara's been extracted." Naruto replied.

She shook her head, "Doesn't matter, you're still losing your memory for some reason."

"Just tell me what I did!" Naruto pleaded.

"Well," Shikimaru started.

**_M_**

"Didn't you?" I shouted my eye were glowing blood red, my nails sharpening._ Many of my other friends appeared around us._ I was on all fours glaring back at them. I tackled one of them and started slashing away at them with my claws. They were screaming for me to get off, stabbing me continuously, but I just kept clawing at them. "Naruto, please!" She cried in pain. I made one final slash, one slash at their throat. I stood up breathing so heavily. I stared down at my hands, covered in flesh and blood. I must have been blinded by rage. I put one finger in my mouth, licking off the blood and feeling my razor sharp teeth. It had a very sweet taste. I starred down at their tattered remains, her once long vivid purple hair was now cut and blood stained on the ground. Her jacket was ripped and pants cut in half. Her cousin stared at me in horror. "What?" I asked, "Never seen a slaughter before?" I had a sudden realization of my actions. My eyes were wide and I was shivering, the blood dripping from my fingertips. I let out a blood curdling scream.

**_M_**

Naruto clenched his head, "No, no!" His thoughts raced in his brain, 'how could I have killed her. Her! One of my closes friends. Why can't I control myself' "Ahhhh!" He shouted in distress. Temari stared in sympathy, Shikimaru stared in concern, and Akatsuki in surprise, but Neji, Neji just stared with anger and rage. His cousin was slaughtered by one of his closet friends, and all he cared about was himself. He should just kill him then and there. He would keep his fury bottled up inside him and unleash it when the time was right. Little did he know that this anger would lead to his ultimate demise.

"God, why," Naruto mumbled. "Why did this happen, how could it have happened?" Tears were forming at his eyes. "H-Hinata."

Hidan put his arm over his shoulder, "It's alright kid." Naruto slapped his arm away.

"Shut up! You guys probably did all this. You're the reason I can't remember anything."

Hidan stood up, "You can't blame that on us. They're the ones that set you up! They led you to the volcano and they hung that girl."

"Hidan sit down," Kakuzu ordered.

Naruto growled, "I can't trust any of you people!" Naruto ran off in a huff into the forest once more.

Hidan and Kakuzu ran after him. Shikimaru and Neji retired for the night to their tent. "I'll be in bed in a second." Temari said. Quickly she went over to her ten. She threw her hair back and pressed the button on her communicator. "Temari here, we have a problem."

* * *

"So, I see you let him go, against my orders you let him go."

"I didn't think it would hurt."

"Ha-ha, not at all. If fact this is going just as planned."


	4. 4 In the Hands of Our Saviors

**Memories of the Dawn**

Chapter 4: In the Hands of Our Saviors

Naruto ran through the forest, passing the trees that seemed to tower over him in the darkness. He was fleeing from his captors, and especially from his enemies. He was also fleeing his friends who had been with his since graduation. He cherished their friendship but he couldn't trust anyone now, not his friends and especially not his enemies. But were his friends still his friends, and were his enemies still his enemies? Naruto wasn't sure of anything anymore. 'Did I really kill Hinata?' He suddenly tripped and tumbled into a tree. Naruto got back up and looked behind him. There, standing in her pink shirt and cream miniskirt was her old friend Sakura. She had her arms crossed and back against a tree. She was staring at him. "Sakura?"

"Naruto, I've been waiting." She smacked the tree and walked out of the way. In a mere second the tree trunk split and began falling. Naruto would have to act fast or be flattened. He quickly jumped out of the way. Naruto walked over to Sakura standing by the stump. "Please, tell me what's going on." He pleaded.

"They were right; you don't remember a damn thing. Don't trust your new friends so easily, they might turn on you. That, I can tell you from experience." She said turning her back and retreating into the forest. "Wait!" Naruto began running after her, quickly Hidan and Kakuzu jumped in front of him. "Wait boy, return with us immediately. It's too dangerous out here." Kakuzu motioned with his hand.

"Wait, I need to know right now, how did we end up on this island?"

Kakuzu sighed, "If we knew, we would have been off by now." Naruto followed them back to their base. While walking, Naruto noticed an inconspicuous dirt path marked with a small trail of berries. Naruto saw how the bushes were cut back. Without notice Naruto disbanded from the group and follow the path through the jungle. Hidan and Kakuzu did not notice his disappearance until he was long gone. The young shinobi continued his journey until he hit a fork in the road. He put his hands together, "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Two other Naruto's appeared and he sent the clones down both paths. Eventually, the two clones met at the end and fell into a giant pit of spikes. Naruto went down the left path and found that there was an alternative route.

He followed the mysterious passage until he found what looked like a large chapel with glistening glass windows and a faded paint job. The once bright white walls now lost their luster and have fallen into decay. There were large rotting double doors at the entrance. Naruto entered though the doors; everyone looked up and stared at him. Sasuke, Kakashi, Lee and Kiba. All anyone did was stare at him. What would they all think of him; would they hate him for whatever he had done? Kiba walked over to Naruto and held out his hand. "Welcome back, buddy."

* * *

Pain walked to into Tobi's room, unsure of his master's desires. "You called, Madara?"

"98, Pain, I'm missing a book. Hitachi told me so. "Tobi said examining his dusty old bookcase.

"How can you be so sure?" Pain asked.

"Not only have I counted these books over ten times now, but Itachi's eyes never lie. The boy took it."

Pain's thoughts were racing, "Will this effect our plan?" He asked.

Tobi turned to face him, "If you want to make it off this island alive, you better pray not. But then again, you never pray. After all you're 'God.' Call a meeting tonight; we may have a change of plans."

Pain moaned, and then took off. Later that night all of the Akatsuki members met in the foyer. They were sitting on benches found in the cellar, most of which were rotten and falling apart. Pain and Konan stood at the podium discussing something. "Attention Akatsuki, we may have a sort of a problem. The Jinchuuriki may have found out about our plan."

Many of them gasped, "Oh shit!" Hidan cursed.

"But don't worry; we'll all still get off of her alive. Now I'm going to turn this over to our scouting troop." Pain and Konan sat down behind the podium as Deidara and Kisame stood up. The two walked over to the stand and prepared to show their results. "Well," Deidara began. "I've been working with Kisame to find another island. There is none. My birds have flown for miles and miles and found nothing. Not even any signs of life. Kisame?"

"My sharks have found now underwater passages or caves to lead out of here. We've deemed that there is no physical way out of here." Itachi raised his hand. "Yes Itachi?"

"What do you mean physical?" He asked confused.

"Well, Deidara and I figure that maybe we were sent here using a jutsu of some sorts. This is unconfirmed and, even if it was true, it would require a large amount of chakra. This would be possible only with a bijuu. Speaking of that, where is Naruto?"

"Uhh..." Hidan paused. "We kind of, lost him." Kakuzu sneered, "We? You're supposed to be watching him! I was focused on finding the base."

Pain was furious, "We require him to get off this island. If he is in the hands of his former allies, it could ruin our whole procedure!" Konan put her hand on his shoulder, "Calm down, Pain. You're going to have a heart attack. I want Itachi to join Hidan and Kakuzu on the search for the boy."

Tobi finished meditating in the corner. He stood up and led the four-man squad out of the base. They began walking down a dirt path into the jungle.

Itachi was hesitant, "Listen, Tobi."

"No, you listen!" Tobi retaliated. "We're on a mission to find the boy. If we fail, then no one gets off this island alive." His voice was menacing and scared the others. They sometimes forgot that Tobi wasn't just an ignorant child, but a vile mastermind bent on Akatsuki's global conquest. Tobi smiled under his mask and led them forward. "But don't worry; we won't fail because I know exactly where our friend is."

* * *

After sitting down and talking for a while, Naruto became somewhat confused. His friends were still being nice to him. "Why are you guys being so nice to me?" Naruto asked solemnly, keeping his head down. Kiba looked at him, "Well you're our friend. That's a good enough reason for me."

"But after everything I did..." Naruto paused. How would his friends react?

"What did you do?" Kiba was lost and had absolutely no idea what his friend was talking about. Naruto was silent; he wouldn't dare speak of the tragedies.

"Is H-Hinata?"

Sasuke came out of a back room, "Still out patrolling? Yeah, she and Neji should be back anytime."

"You mean she's alive?" He gasped.

Kiba really looked confused; he developed a weird look on his face. "When wasn't she?" Sasuke came out of the back. "What is up with you?"

"Sasuke! Why did you attack me?" Naruto growled.

"You idiot, I've never even seen you until now." His friend snarled. Naruto was unsure of his words. Did he not remember, or did he not want to?

"At the beach, you charged at me and Itachi saved me." He stressed.

Sasuke scoffed, "Even if this did happen, I doubt my brother would come to your rescue." Sakura had just walk in through the doors and looked at her friends arguing. Naruto shook his head violently. "No at the beach, I couldn't move. I had a huge gash in my leg and Kakuzu fixed it." He hurriedly pulled up his pants leg only to find the stitch work had disappeared without a trace. "I-It's gone!" Sakura walked up behind the blonde.

"Is there something wrong with you?" She asked concerned.

Naruto slowly turned his head and stared into her warm, welcoming eyes. But somehow he couldn't see those eyes and only saw the blank stare of the vicious Sakura in the jungle. He backed away in fear. "Is there something wrong with me, what's wrong with you? You tried dropping a tree on me!" He shouted.

"Why would I drop a tree on you?" She said defensively.

"How the hell should I know?" He asked. "You said you were waiting and that I wouldn't remember anything."

Kakashi looked up from what he was doing and stared at his student. "Naruto, I think that during your time with Akatsuki, they've been putting you under various genjutsu. It's the only way you would think that any of us would attack you. It also explains why you couldn't move on the beach."

Crash! Suddenly a loud noise came from the door. Everyone looked over and found that there was a large red, three-pronged scythe protruding from the large cathedral's double-doors. With a quick tug the doors were ripped of the handles. They flew outward like they were being sucked out an air lock into space. There, standing in the doorway, was Hidan, Kakuzu, and Itachi. Itachi held out his hand, "Come, Jinchuuriki. Let's go." Naruto pulled out a kunai and stood ready. "Not a chance!" He heard a loud sigh. He turned around and looked up. Sitting on one of the roof's support beams was a young man with dark hair and a bright orange swirl mask. He was just sitting there in his Akatsuki cloak, dangling his legs over the edge. "

You're that boy from the room, with the library." They stared at each other. "And you're the boy that stole my book. Don't make this any harder than it needs to be. Come quietly, and your friends will remain unharmed." Naruto eyes became a piercing red as he threw his kunai as hard as he could towards Tobi. The sharp metal knife flew swiftly at the Akatsuki member. Quickly Tobi lied back and dodged the kunai. The then dived backwards off the beam and began falling about 5 stories from the roof of the chapel. He fell backwards and everyone was expecting him to crash through the floor boards.

In the blink of an eye, Tobi flipped around so he was falling feet first. He seemed to phase thought the floor and into the ground. He quickly appeared behind Naruto with a kunai to the blonde's throat. Sasuke and Sakura charged and swiped their weapons at him. With Naruto in his grasp, he did a complete back flip, totally avoiding the attack. "No one move, or the boy dies!" Tobi threatened. Itachi stared at him, "You said yourself we need his powers to get off this island."

Tobi spun Naruto around and flung him into the wall. He raised his hand then motioned towards the rest of Naruto's friends. Hidan and Kakuzu ran towards the gang, while Itachi set his sights on his brother. "Well, here we are again." He said walking towards Sasuke. "Foolish, little brother." Itachi dashed towards Sasuke, but Sasuke did a front-flip above Itachi and sliced threw him. Itachi exploded, sending Sasuke flying out the non-existent door. Hidan stared over at Kiba, "So, where's your mutt?" Hidan taunted. "..." The truth was that Akamaru was captured earlier by Akatsuki and forked over to the leader. What ever happened after that...? Kiba charged, "Tunneling Fang!" Kiba was spinning towards Hidan who dodged and pinned him against the wall with his scythe. "You're no good without your stupid fleabag." He scooped up Kiba on his scythe and flung him all the way across the church. Kakuzu was one-on-one with Kakashi. Sakura ran to aid Naruto who was cornered by Tobi. Tobi delivered a roundhouse kick to Naruto's side and shot him into the wall once more. He stood up and wiped the blood from his mouth. "You're dead now!" Naruto got down on all fours and pounced at the Akatsuki member. Unexpectedly, Tobi raised his hand towards Naruto and stopped him in mid-air. He pulled back his arm then shot Naruto forward, against the wall once more. It was then that Sakura intervened. She tried punching, left and right, Tobi would either block, dodge, or just plain phase thorough the hits. Sakura's biggest mistake was trying to kick him. She brought her leg up and against his head. He grabbed her leg and flung her around in a circle until he threw her into some of the church benches.

"I'm done here." Tobi said, becoming bored with this fight. He jumped forward, and then disappeared in mid air. Sakura looked all over for him. She immediately felt a sharp pain in her side. Sakura looked and found a large cut in her left side. She then felt a similar pain in her shoulder. These cuts appeared all over her until she fell to her knees in pain. Blood was seeping from her wounds, and Tobi appeared in front of her. Naruto had gotten back up and saw the incident. He growled at Tobi who just glanced over. He jumped through the roof and expected Naruto to follow. Only Naruto left a big hole in it. Hidan had easily overpowered Kiba and went to assist Kakuzu. The two left Kakashi under a pile of rubble. Outside Itachi was fighting Sasuke, neck and neck. Back and forth, like a dance between assassins. His kunai would continually clash with his sword. Suddenly, Itachi created thousands of his shadow clones. The original joined Tobi on the roof with Naruto. The two turned and faced the angry and wild Jinchuuriki. "You have one last chance, boy. Return the book, and come with us. You're friends are on the brink of death." Sasuke continued fighting the Itachi clones below. Itachi created thousands more until they completely surround the outside of the church.

"I'll never join you, not again!" Naruto roared.

"Very well," Tobi snapped his fingers. Itachi made his hand-sign

No one expected what happened next.

Tobi smirked, "You're just like Deidara, Itachi."


End file.
